Toronto East York, Canada

The celebration of International Tenants Day this year will take place on Monday, October 3, 2016.

The theme this year by the International Union of Tenants (IUT) will be: Is control of rents outdated, or a necessity – worldwide?

The view of the IUT is that rent regulation is a response to the power imbalance between landlords and tenants, which creates an opportunity for landlords to exploit tenants that certainly exists in tight housing markets

The Ontario government has set the 2017 Annual Rent Increase Guideline at 1.5%. The guideline increase of 1.5% for 2017 is the maximum a landlord can raise a tenant’s rent without approval of the Landlord and Tenant Board. This applies to most sitting tenants in private residential rental units covered by the Residential Tenancies Act. Rents charged to new tenants are at the discretion of the landlord.

The 2017 guideline increase takes effect from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017. As noted above, landlords cannot increase rent for sitting tenants above the 1.5% guideline without seeking approval from the Landlord and Tenant Board. This 2017 guideline increase of 1.5% is slightly lower than the 1.6% rent increase for 2016. It is based on the Ontario Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of inflation calculated monthly by Statistics Canada.

In April 2016, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing released a consultation paper which discussed Proposals to Encourage Small Landlords to Provide Rental Housing.

FMTA was a core stakeholder in the process and provided feedback about proposals. Although feedback on the proposals was originally due in late April, the government extended deadlines to June 30th in order to provide more time for feedback from tenants.

The FMTA Board is concerned that these proposals constitute the greatest attack on tenant rights since the Mike Harris government. More importantly, there’s no evidence that these proposals will encourage small landlords to provide a single unit of housing.

Major Proposals:

1) Require tenants to provide legal disclosure for any issues that they intend to raise at rental arrears eviction hearings to the landlord prior to the hearing.

2) Explore whether any changes should be made to the process for tenants appealing decisions of the Landlord and Tenant Board to the Divisional Court

3) Explore whether to allow landlords to terminate a tenancy based on violation of no-smoking provisions in tenancy agreements

4) Explore whether to allow landlords to prohibit pets in tenancy agreements in small buildings where the landlord also resides

Concerns:

1) There is no evidence that these proposals will create a single unit. The FMTA asked for any quantitative evidence (a study/survey) that showed that these proposals would “encourage small landlords to provide rental housing”. The Ministry didn’t have any. In fact the Ministry provided no estimate of the number of units they expect to be created by these proposals.

2) These proposals will encourage eviction of tenants. Three of the most concerning proposals (pre-disclosure of evidence, allowing landlords to prohibit pets, allowing eviction due to breeching a lease) can already lead to an eviction. These proposals simply make it easier for landlords to evict.

3) Lack of Fairness. Applications to the Landlord and Tenant Board are already dominated by landlords – 91% of all applications. These proposals will make it harder for tenants to bring up counter applications and appeal to Divisional Court.

Better Options:

1) Zoning. Provincial changes to the Planning Act for second units came into effect on January 1, 2012. Did these changes encourage small landlords to provide rental housing? Evidence-based analysis would provide an answer.

2) Licensing. Many small landlords receive no training on the requirements and difficulties for running a rental housing business. Licensing could help better prepare them.

3) Standardized leases. Many new, small landlords are shocked to find they cannot ban pets or smoking outright or that some fees included in their leases are illegal. Standardized leases would help train landlords to understand and follow the law.

4) Better law enforcement. While good landlords follow the law in terms of repairs, charges and tenant rights, they face similar difficulties and penalties to landlords that flagrantly break the law. Providing appropriate punishments for landlords who break the law and incentives for those who follow it could help spur rental housing growth.

Contact the Ministry!
Concerned about these proposals? The full list of changes can be found on the Ministry of Municipal Affairs website. Public feedback can be sent to residential.tenancies@ontario.ca.

Important noteFMTA Annual General Meeting – Join the FMTA for the 42nd Annual General Meeting on Saturday June 18th, 2016 at 1pm.Location: 120 Carlton St – Party Room. Corner of Jarvis and Carlton St. Closest station is College Subway.
Refer to this link for more details on the 2016 FMTA Annual General Meeting: http://www.torontotenants.org/news/fmta-annual-general-meeting-2016

In recognition of International Tenants Day this year a public forum will be held to put the spotlight on repairs and maintenance standards.

The forum is being organized by several agencies including the FMTA, Toronto Acorn & University of Toronto.

While this forum will bring to the forefront the challenges tenants face in getting landlords to address repairs and maintenance issues it is also an opportunity to address other pressing rental issues that impact tenants. Tenant participation in forums such as these is instrumental in ensuring that affordable and quality housing remain a basic human right.

Here are the details of this event:

Date: Thursday October 22nd, 2015Time: 6:30pmLocation: Innis Town Hall – 2 Sussex Av (1 block south of St. George Subway)

NOTE – International Tenants Day is an annual event coordinated by the Swedish-based International Union of Tenants. It aims to promote tenant rights around the world while creating awareness of tenant issues.

We will have a federal election on October 19, 2015. The political leaders have aired their views and had debates on a variety of issues of concern to Canadians. Many families struggle to meet their monthly rent due to rising rental cost. Community housing is not an option for them as there is a huge backlog of applicants on waiting lists. Moreover, most of the community housing buildings are in need of massive repairs and renovations. In light of the ongoing housing crisis, the lack of affordable housing and increase in homelessness should be more of a priority for all political parties and included in their platform.

The Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO) and the Right to Housing Coalition are joining groups and individuals across Canada in a national week of action to address the issue of affordable housing and homelessness. The Right to Housing Forum is part of a national week of action taking place September 23rd-30th.

The Federation of Metro Toronto Tenants Association (FMTA) has extended an invitation to attend the Right To Housing Forum that will take place in Toronto on September 30, 2015. The FMTA recognizes that there is an affordable housing and homelessness crisis in Canada and the government is doing little to fix it. Affordable housing should be an election issue. You are invited to this Right to Housing Forum to talk about the affordable housing and homelessness crisis in the context of housing as a right.
This event will be held at Ryerson University Library Building, Room 72, 350 Victoria St., Toronto. TIME: 6:30pm – 8:30pm

The Ontario government has set the 2016 Annual Rent Increase Guideline at 2.0%. The increase of 2.0% for 2016 is the maximum a landlord can raise a tenant’s rent without the approval of the Landlord and Tenant Board.

This increase for 2016 applies to most sitting residential tenants. However, the guideline increase does not apply to new tenants. Rents charged to new tenants are at the discretion of the landlord.

The 2016 guideline increase takes effect from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. Approximately 85% of private market tenants are will be covered by this recent guidelines increase. As noted above, landlords cannot increase rent for sitting tenants above the 2.0% guideline without seeking approval from the Landlord and Tenant Board. Refer to:2016_Rent_Increase

This 2016 guideline increase of 2.0% is higher than the 1.6% rent increase for 2015. It is based on the Ontario Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of inflation calculated monthly by Statistics Canada.

Landlords provide a variety of services to tenants in residential apartment buildings. One of the major services provided is ‘repairs and maintenance’. This particular service is defined in the lease document, which is a contractual agreement between the landlord and the tenant and is covered by the regulations of the Landlord and Tenant Board.

While a variety services are provided by landlords, the one most frequently used by tenants tends to be ‘repairs and maintenance’. These services are provided by onsite staff except in unusual situations where major repairs would have to be done by licensed tradespeople. Other necessary services such as lawn care and snow removal are provided in compliance with municipal standards and bylaws whereas services such as ‘laundry facilities’ are outsourced by the landlord.

The inclusion of ‘laundry facilities’ is an essential service for most tenants. Tenants in residential apartment buildings expect to have laundry equipment available on site. For several years there has been a trend for laundromat services to be outsourced to outside contractors, not managed by the landlord. The outsourcer/contractor is allocated a space to set up the laundry equipment and is responsible for collection of monies and maintenance of the equipment. This is where some bothersome issues have surfaced for tenants using the laundry facilities. The laundry facility is not free as the machines are equipped for coin collection. Alas, these washers and dryers malfunction fairly frequently and tenants are unable to receive the services for which they have paid.

Posters in laundry rooms display contact information in the event a tenant encounters problems with the machines. Tenants can also report that loss of service to their property manager or superintendent to obtain refunds for the money lost. It should be a simple matter to obtain a refund. Yet some tenants are finding it challenging to be reimbursed for the money lost on malfunctioning washers and dryers when they follow up with the property management. Tenants’ requests for reimbursement of lost money are not always dealt with promptly.

There appears to be an issue related to accountability and oversight. The laundry equipment should be approved for continuous use in residential apartment buildings. It is not for occasional use hence there is more wear and tear to the equipment due to the large number of users. Tenants have to pay for the use of the washers and dryers. The laundry equipment provided to tenants should meet a required level of performance and not be faulty and sub-standard.

Dissatisfaction with the faulty laundry machines, loss of money, overcrowding and wait times has driven some tenants to purchase their own laundry equipment without the knowledge or approval of the landlord. As a result some landlords have notified tenants who wish to install laundry appliances that their rental cost will increase due to increased hydro/utility costs for the entire building. Landlords have also attempted to apply similar rules to those who install air conditioning appliances.

Ultimately those tenants who install laundry appliances or air conditioners without approval are being subsidized by the other tenants in the building who have not installed that type of equipment in their units. For those tenants dependent on the laundry facilities and have lost money the outstanding issue would be for the landlord to address the lack of accountability and oversight for the services provided by the outsourcer/contractor.

We would very much like to hear about experiences you have had with the laundry facilities in your building.

The FMTA 41st Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday, June 6th, 2015 at 1:00 pm. The venue is the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) located at 252 Bloor St. West, Room 2212, Toronto ON M5S 1V6. (near St. George Subway)

2014/15 has seen the FMTA undertake a number of campaigns related to Above Guideline Rent Increases, rent control, landlord licensing, tenant representation and affordable housing. A Mayor’s debate was also held in October 2014.

Tenant Association Assembly
After the wrap-up of Annual General Meeting there will be a Tenant Association Assembly at 2:00 pm. The assembly will be a discussion dealing with issues that affect tenants in all of Ontario, including issues unique to FMTA’s tenant association members. FMTA members are encouraged to bring tenant issues to the discussion so that our position is strengthened when dealing with the politicians who make decisions on our behalf. The FMTA is exploring various plans of action to get the rights that tenants deserve. City Councillors have also been invited.

NOTE: All active members of the FMTA are welcome to attend the AGM, while all tenant advocates are able to attend the Tenant Association Assembly.